SAS Newsletter April 2018

April 2018 SRI AUROBINDO SOCIETY VOL 32.04 Singapore Permit No. MCI (P) 102/02/2018 NEWSLETTER Satyavan and Savitri These spirits met upon the roads of Time.Botanical Name: Ocimum basilicumCommon Name: Common BasilSpiritual Significance: Joy of Union with the Divine Whence hast thou dawned filling my spirit’s days, Brighter than summer, brighter than my flowers, Into the lonely borders of my life, O Sunlight moulded like a golden maid? - Savitri, Sri Aurobindo

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2018. Guiding Light of the MonthLike a flame that burns in silence, like a perfume that rises straight upward withoutwavering, my love goes to Thee; and like the child who does not reason and has nocare, I trust myself to Thee that Thy Will may be done, that Thy Light may manifest, Thy Peace radiate, Thy Love cover the world. The Mother, ‘Prayers and Meditations’ December 7, 1912 From the Editor’s DeskThe theme of this edition of the Newsletter is knowledge that it was with him that she needed to‘Satyavan and Savitri’. What is the significance of carry out a work of significance for the whole of humanity. What work? Savitri’s symbolism gives usSatyavan and Savitri in union? Satyavan is “thesoul carrying the divine truth of being within itself a clue. She is the Divine Word; Daughter of the Sun; Goddess of the supreme Truth, descended here uponbut descended into the grip of death andignorance;” while Savitri is “the Divine Word, the earth. All of Savitri’s role upon this earth is revealed. She appears to be the glorious Light itself,daughter of the Sun, goddess of the supreme Truthwho comes down and is born to save;” These are Divinity, born upon earth and that too, born to save. In contrast, we have Satyavan, descended into deathwords from Sri Aurobindo as he pens the Author’snote in his great master-piece epic, ‘Savitri’. The and ignorance. However, the saving grace in the birth of Satyavan is that divinity is working in him too. Hesymbolism in the two characters, as emphasizedearlier in several issues, need closer scrutiny if one has evolved as the perfect purusha manifest on earth. This divinity in itself brings him, perhaps, close towere to dive into the deeper meanings that thesesymbols lead us into, so that our contemplation that Divine daughter born to save. She is born to save him, as we will see ultimately, in the poem and withmay be deeper and better placed. Once thecharacters become symbols, then they transcend him, symbolically, the whole of mankind.the common lure of the well beaten trend of human A close bond as lover and beloved, as man and wife,interpretation and stand to be revealed to all who as Divinity and the bound soul - theirs too is aseek the spirit behind the words. Once again, what relationship stretching into the occult vistas. Coulddo Satyavan and Savitri in union, bound their union also spell to each of us another truth? Ofseemingly by the nuptial knot, represent, and stand the presence in us of a Satyavan and so too, a gloriousto reveal in the collective working and integration Savitri; an aspiring soul and an enlightened centralof who they really are in spirit? Lines describing Godhead both on the path of at first a rediscovery andthe first meeting reveals the recognition of soul by then a merger and union within ourselves, of thesoul: union spirit and our nature?Yet in the heart their secret conscious selvesAt once aware grew of each other… The union of Satyavan and Savitri is an importantThe suggestion of a timeless relationship between topic worth contemplating upon. There is a strongsouls is intriguing and therein is sealed the presence of Divinity dancing in the two symbols ofknowledge that theirs was no ordinary meeting Satyavan and Savitri and when our contemplationand union. And here are the words that sealed their rests on either of their qualities or both together infate and tied them into a single knot, from wherein union, there dawns a special awakening within, aunfolds the future work before them: certain uplifting of what one may call one’sO Satyavan, I have heard thee and I know; consciousness, even if for fleeting seconds. WithI know that thou and only thou art he. these seeds for contemplation, may we also await the 104th Anniversary of The Mother’s arrival in Pondicherry, on 24th April 2018, another significantAnd the wedding takes place of two souls on earth event for all of existence.soil. What did her soul fathom? It was thewww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 2

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2018. Savitri, a journey of Love and Light Pranked butterflies, the conscious flowers of air, The brilliant long bills in their vivid dress, The peacock scattering on the breeze his moons Painted my memory like a frescoed wall. (Savitri)(Photo: Flowers at Darjeeling) Her rapid fingers taught a flower songThere is recognition in the depths of their being, joy wells up, yet they strive for understandingspeech. There is resistance from \"the screen of the external sense\", the inner sight is impeded, theright words are slow in coming. Satyavan first comes out of the trance of fascination andapostrophises her as one might a goddess who has swum across one's view: Whence hast thou dawned filling my spirit's days, Brighter than summer, brighter than my flowers, Into the lonely borders of my life, O Sunlight moulded like a golden maid?Not unused to the denizens of the upper air, Satyavan has in the past heard the \"centaur's wizardsong\", glimpsed the apsaras in their abandon, and \"beheld the princes of the Sun\"; has she come toofrom \"the Thunderer's worlds?\" Perhaps she will condescend to abide with mortals:www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 3

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2018. If our time-vexed affections thou canst feel, Earth's ease of simple things can satisfy, If thy glance can dwell content on earthly soil, And this celestial summary of delight, Thy golden body, dally with fatigue Oppressing with its grace our terrain, while The frail sweet passing taste of earthly food Delays thee and the torrent's leaping wine, Descend. Let thy journey cease, come down to us.His father's hermitage is near, where \"bare, simple is the sylvan hermit-life\"; there she can find a\"resting chamber\" fit for her. Savitri, shaking herself free from the magic web of his echoing voice, tells her name—\"I amSavitri, Princess of Madra\"—and asks in turn for his, and why he is content to abide in the forest'sinaccessible solitudes. He tells his story too; he is Satyavan, the Shalwa King Dyumatsena's son—but a king no more, for he has lost eyesight and kingdom both: Outcast from empire of the outer light, Lost to the comradeship of seeing men, He sojourns in two solitudes, within And in the solemn rustle of the woods.And so has Satyavan been led to cultivate \"the frankness of the primal earth\", with the sunlight'scompanionship in day-time, and \"the moonbeam's silver ecstasy\" shaping his sleep at night. Nature'sministry has been gentle and unfailing, and has given him intimations vast and profound; kingfisher,swan, pranked butterfly, peacock, spotted deer, these and other \"high beauty's visitants\" have foundways of reaching to his soul. Above all he says, I carved my vision out of wood and stone; I caught the echoes of a word supreme And metred the rhythm-beats of infinity And listened through music for the eternal Voice.He has seen fragments of humanity, the Self obscured beyond recognition, each living \"in himselfand for himself alone\"; and he has \"sat with the forest sages in their trance\" and pierced the veil ofthe many to reach the presence of the One. Yet matter's stubborn resistance to change has defeatedhim, he has failed to convert the Inconscience, and Death and the Void are giant spectres still. Ifonly Savitri would share Satyavan's life, could they not with their joint efforts succeed where singlyhe had failed? But Savitri would like Satyavan to continue speaking—it is music to her ears—till her spirit'sintimations arm her 'mortal mind' with the power to see and the will to accept. And Satyavan's heartmelts in \"many-coloured waves of speech\" and floods her with the joy of growing recognition.Satyavan describes his ardours and longings, his strivings and realisations; he has roamed in darkcaverns with thought for his lantern; he has made a deep study of logic and semantics, ethics andmetaphysics; he has seen through matter's atomic universe, its \"secret laws and sorceries\"; he hasexplored aesthetics, and sought in beauty and art the clue to the still elusive ultimate Truth; yet oneor the other has always failed him, the hither or the thither shore. But Savitri's very appearance islike a cure for all Satyavan's earlier frustrations. From his heart's depths comes the cry: A strange new world swims to me in thy gazewww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 4

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2018.Approaching like a star from unknown heavens;A cry of spheres comes with thee and a songOf flaming gods...Come nearer to me from thy car of lightOn this green sward disdaining not our soil...O my bright beauty's princess Savitri,By my delight and thy own joy compelledEnter my life, thy chamber and thy shrine.\"I know that thou and only thou art he,\" says Savitri as she steps down from her car \"with a soft andfaltering haste\". Then follows a passage of great sensuous beauty touched also by the accents of thepurer poetry of the soul. The woman whose whole response has been awakened offering her loveand herself to the man who has kindled this fire of ardour and adoration in her, is the archetype ofthe world's most thrilling and most moving romantic poetry. There is a traditional ritual about thissacrificial offering which is the basis of life's perennial resurrection. In India from times immemorialit is the girl who advances, bashfully yet bravely, with garland in hand, and so does Savitri here:A candid garland set with simple formsHer rapid fingers taught a flower song,The stanzaed movement of a marriage hymn.Profound in perfume and immersed in hueThey mixed their yearning's coloured signs and madeThe bloom of their purity and passion one.A sacrament of joy in treasuring palmsShe brought, flower-symbol of her offered life,...She bowed and touched his feet withworshipping hands;...Satyavan humbly bends to receive her and gather her into an embrace, and Savitri feels \"her beingflow into him as in waves/A river pours into a mighty sea\". The river has found the sea, the mortalhas wakened into Eternity. This is the phoenix hour, the time of their ineffable union. They aremarried already in the eyes of Heaven, and the symbol rites take their own course:On the high glowing cupola of the dayFate tied a knot with morning's halo threadsWhile by the ministry of an auspice-hourHeart-bound before the sun, their marriage fire,The wedding of the eternal Lord and SpouseTook place again on earth in human forms:...The priest-wind chants the mantras, the leaves hymn the \"choral whisperings\", and \"one humanmoment was eternal made\". Now Satyavan leads Savitri to their future home, and calm and content possess her heart. Butbefore she can rest in this felicity she needs must return to Madra and tell Aswapati the choice shehas made. But she will return, nor ever again agree to part from Satyavan. So saying she mounts hercar once more, and speeds \"swift-reined, swift-hearted\" towards her parental home; but in the \"stilllucidities of sight's inner world\" she is with Satyavan still in his hermit thatch behind the nave offorest trees.(“Sri Aurobindo’s Savitri – A study of the cosmic epic”, Dr. Premanandakumar, Sri AurobindoAshram Trust, Puducherry)www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 5

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2018. Flowers Speak… Psychic Love Strong and faithful, it has a beauty Yet in the heart their secret conscious selves At once aware grew of each other warned By the first call of a delightful voice And a first vision of the destined face. (Savitri) Will in the Course of Uniting itself with the Divine Will On the way to perfection Before fate led me into this emerald world, Aroused by some foreshadowing touch within, An early prescience in my mind approached The great dumb animal consciousness of earth Now grown so close to me who have left old pomps To live in this grandiose murmur dim and vast. (Savitri) Perfect Surrender The indispensable condition for identification A sacrament of joy in treasuring palms She brought, flower-symbol of her offered life, Then with raised hands that trembled a little now At the very closeness that her soul desired, This bond of sweetness, their bright union’s sign, She laid on the bosom coveted by her love. (Savitri)(Flowers and Messages, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry)www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 6

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2018. On Music Music brought down celestial yearnings, song Held the merged heart absorbed in rapturous depths, Linking the human with the cosmic cry; (Savitri) Mother Saraswati – Goddess of learning and music. The world-interpreting movements of the dance Moulded idea and mood to a rhythmic sway And posture; crafts minute in subtle lines Eternised a swift moment’s memory Or showed in a carving’s sweep, a cup’s design The underlying patterns of the unseen: Poems in largeness cast like moving worlds And metres surging with the ocean’s voice (Savitri)(Picture taken from Story of the Soul – Part 2. Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry) ***www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 7

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2018. Strength shall be with her like a conqueror’s sword. The Mother’s arrival at Pondicherry 24th April, 1920.For it is through love and beauty that she lays on men the yoke of the Divine. Life is turned in hersupreme creations into a rich work of celestial art and all existence into a poem of sacred delight;the world’s riches are brought together and concerted for a supreme order and even the simplestand commonest things are made wonderful by her intuition of unity and the breath of her spirit.Admitted to the heart she lifts wisdom to pinnacles of wonder and reveals to it the mystic secrets ofthe ecstasy that surpasses all knowledge, meets devotion with the passionate attraction of the Divine,teaches to strength and force the rhythm that keeps the might of their acts harmonious and inmeasure and casts on perfection the charm that makes it endure for ever.(“The Mother”, Sri Aurobindo, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Trust, Puducherry)www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 8

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2018. Diya I am a little oil lamp I am made of clay. I am held on a caring palm. I carry a light, a crimson flame. Oil is gently poured in A strong flicker is firmly placed. A friendly hand alights the flame. I dispel darkness. I shine like a star on earth. I am a diya, an oil lamp. Sandhya February-March Sunday Activities at the Centre - A glimpseFebruary 18th and March 11th - The future poetryJared navigated us through the Style of poetry including providing vivid examples of parallel stylesfrom ancient Egyptian architectures specially the sublime statue of queen Hatchepsut – said by TheMother as a previous incarnation of herself – and the Mortuary Temple.“The aim of poetry, as of all true art, is neither a photographic or otherwise realistic imitation ofNature, nor a romantic furbishing and painting or idealistic improvement of her image, but aninterpretation by the images she herself affords us, not on one but on many planes of her creation,of that which she conceals from us, but is ready, when rightly approached, to reveal”.www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 9

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2018.“Style is to make the thing presented living to the imaginative vision, the responsive inner emotion,the spiritual sense, the soul-feeling and soul-sight. … fills every word with its utmost possiblerhythmic and thought suggestion.But in itself it depends on none of these things; it is not a style, but poetic style itself, the Word; itcreates and carries with it its elements rather than is created by them. Whatever its outward forms,it is always the one fit style for THE MANTRA (poetic expression of the deepest spiritual reality –meeting into an indissoluble oneness the three highest intensities of poetic speech: 1) a highestintensity of rhythmic movement, 2) a highest intensity of interwoven verbal form and thought-substance, of style, and 3) a highest intensity of the soul’s vision of truth).February 21st – Mother’s birthday celebrationsThe special highlight this year was the active participation of our youth members enchanting us withtheir dance tuned to Savitri verses and recitals of other works.Jared’s monthly youth programme is striving to lay a good foundation through drawing keen interestfrom our youth members and their offerings to The Mother during this celebration is an expressionof their dedication. We feel very confident that our next generation will continue to carry the mantleforward.February 25th – Self Dynamising meditation using Savitri and Huta PaintingWe continued our self-dynamising meditation viewing the Huta Paintings of Book 3, Can to 4 (‘TheBook of the Divine Mother’, ‘The Vision and The Boon’) along with Mother’s organ music and HerVoice. We continued our attempt to weave using the threads of the last eight months of glimpsesinto a Spiritual fabric.This canto provided us the perfect framework for aligning with the Auroville 50th Anniversarycelebrations and we all virtually participated through our meditation bringing The Matrimandir toour inner senses.February 28th – Meditation: Auroville’s 50th anniversary celebrationsWe held two sessions of meditations to join in the collective aspiration for the New World - theworld of unity, consciousness and harmony that is the vision of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo andof which Auroville is a crucial Cradle.During these sessions we screened videos highlighting The Mother’s Dreams for Auroville and howthe devotees at Auroville are striving to bring them to reality through embracing paradoxes. Wemeditated joining our individual souls and our Singapore’s soul with the Matrimandir. We deeplyaspired for the construction of a Singapore pavilion at Auroville.March 4th – Auroville Day February 28th – Meditation: Auroville’s 50th anniversarycelebrationsWe dedicated this session to Auroville and viewed the video “Auroville, Integral Yoga andthe Future of Mankind” by Sraddhalu Ranade followed by discussions. - Ramadosswww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 10

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2018. PROGRAMME FOR THE MONTH OF APRIL 2018 DATE TIME DETAILS 8 AM Monthly Morning Walk*1 April 2018 Sunday Meditation and Concentration with Mother’s Organ Music Thematic Study Circle Part I:1 April 2018 6 PM The Future Poetry Sunday Thematic Study Circle Part II The Future Poetry8 April 2018 6 PM Sunday Youth Programme: Sri Aurobindo and Science Fiction15 April 2018 6 PM Sunday Savitri Circle22 April 2018 4 PM Darshan Day: The Mother’s Final Arrival in Pondicherry Sunday TBC: Special talk by invited speaker22 April 2018 6 PM Sunday24 April 2018 7 PM Tuesday29 April 2018 6 PM Sunday* Please see below for details.Date: April 2018 Morning Walk – NO. 392Time: Sunday, 1st April 2018Walk Venue:Meeting Point: 8:00 A.M. sharp for warm up exercise. We shall proceed with the walk by 8.20 AM without waiting for anyone.Contact No:Hosts: Bishan Park Car Park (marked Palong Sing Ming Avenue Opposite to HDB Block 408. This place is near Bishan Park Secondary School Mr S.Ramanathan (9138 5130) Mr. C.Krishnamurthy & Family, Block 105, Jalan Rajah, # 06-85, Singapore 320105. Directions to Host Residence:www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 11

RSVP by Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2018.phone/whatsapp BY CAR a) Thomson Road-> Balestiar Road -> Turn Left before SPC Petrol Station to Jalan Rajah Road – Landmark Next to GIIS School, Balestiar Branch. b) CTE to Ang Mo Kio from City- Exit @ Jalan Bahagia Kim Keat Road -> Turn Right into Jalan Rajah Road,- Landmark Opposite to Opposite to Curtin University or next to GIIS School, Balestiar Branch BY BUS: SBS Transit 139 & 129 Tel: 84532656 (Krishnamurthy), 82102656 (Jayalakshmi), 62557907 (Landline)Note: All are encouraged to attend the Walk. Those, however, who are not able to join the Walk,the hosts would be very happy that they directly come and join in the brunch by 10:15 AM. Prayersand meditation will commence sharp at 10.30 A.M. All are requested to be punctual. PREVIEW OF FORTHCOMING SUNDAY MORNING WALKSWALK NO DATE PLACE HOST 393 6/5/18 East Coast Park Mr Ashok Patel & Family 394 3/6/18 395 1/7/18 TBA Mr Anand Patel & Family 396 5/8/18 TBA Mr Sanjay Mehta & Family Botanical Gardens Mr KV Rao&Family Along the Way… March Walk Review (walk no 391)When SMRT announced that train services in East-West Line would start much later (only @ 8 amon Sunday the 4th Mar) than the usual starting time of 6 am, I became worried as to how I (being aWest Singapore resident) would reach the Walk Venue in Pasir Ris in the East Singapore on time.Fortunately Mr Sule (North West Resident) volunteered to drive an additional 20kms to give me alift so that I could reach on time.The group assembled for the walk was a modest 6 when our Pranav guided us through the warm upexercises and slowly swelled to 15 by the time we finished the walk. Pasir Ris has undergone majorchanges since the last time I had a walk here.One important thing I noticed was how a cycle shop which was having roaring business on weekendsin the past charging $ 5 per hour for cycle rental could not withstand the new economy onslaughtsfrom OFO, MOBIKE etc which now charge only around $1 per hour. OLD has to give way for theNEW for sure.A pleasant climate lured us to walk at a leisurely pace, enjoying the sea in front of us and the densegrowth of trees behind us.www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 12

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2018.We chanced upon one notice board warning us to beware of wild boars in the jungle vicinity leadingus to wonder whether we are encroaching animal space or they are encroaching ours. This promptedwords to flow out of Mr Sule from the Epic Poem Savitri which I am immensely happy to reproducebelow. “Sun belts of Knowledge, Moon belts of delight Stretched out in an ecstasy of widenesses Beyond our indigent corporeal range. There he could enter, there a while abide. A voyager upon unchartered routes Fronting the viewless danger of the Unknown Adventuring across enormous realms He broke into another Space and Time” (Book 1 Canto 5)Otters frolicking in the sea and also in the stream located within the mangrove wetland are a treat towatch. Our youngest member, 9 month old Dhvani, joined our monthly walk for the first time andenthralled us with her Dhvani (sound) for some moments during our walk.Pasir Ris Park has grown much bigger thanks to park connectors seamlessly integrating with thepark and even after nearly 1 ½ hours walk we could not cover all places of interest. Lest we missedour time for the Meditation, we cut short our walk and headed to Anand K. Venkat’s home to bewarmly welcomed by the hosts.After our usual Meditation and the Reading of Mother’s Prayers, Mr. Sambrant Director (Education)Sri Aurobindo Society Pondicherry who was on a business trip to Singapore happily shared with ussome interesting anecdotes about Rupantar programme (an initiative that targets areas in Educationwith innovative solutions to transform an entire state education system in India) and how thisprogramme which was started on a modest scale in Uttar Pradesh India has now grownastronomically.Their programme known as Zero Investment Innovations for Education Initiatives (ZIIEI) workswith governments, thought leaders and institutions to transform education, guided by the vision ofSri Aurobindo and the Mother to improve effectiveness and infrastructure to gear up more than400,000 teachers to come up with innovations that require zero or minimal monetary investment.He was all praise for Singapore Education System with whom he is collaborating for improvementof the ZIIEI programme. I could see many of our younger members brought up in SingaporeEducation System smile with their heads held high.Thereafter, K.V. Rao shared with us his experiences on his recent trip to Pondicherry to be part ofAuroville’s 50th Birthday celebrations.His narration as how more than 5000 members assembled in the wee hours of 28th Feb at Aurovilleauditorium observing pin-drop silence during the festivities resonated with the spirit of theAurobindo Movement.March born Society Members led by Rishab celebrated their birthdays by cutting a yummy cake andwe all were treated to a sumptuous brunch thereafter.A Sunday well spent following the long tradition (since the year 1985) of Singapore SriAurobindo Society.Looking forward to the April Walk to be hosted by our dearest Mr Krishnamurthy. S.Ramanathanwww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 13

Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore. April 2018. ANNOUNCEMENTSDarshan Day: The Mother’s Final Arrival in Pondicherry 24th APRIL 2018 Sri Aurobindo Society, Singapore 2A Starlight Road, #01-07 Singapore Evening Programme 7.00 pm (Centre Premises) Meditation with the Mother’s Organ MusicDarshan Message from the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Puducherry Meditation and Readings Printed and Published by The Sri Aurobindo Society of Singapore 2A Starlight Road 01-07, Singapore 217755.Saurab: 86559940 or [email protected]; Sanjay: 98750767 or [email protected]; Email: [email protected] Visit our website at: www.sriaurobindosociety.org.sgwww.sriaurobindosociety.org.sg 14